Taiwan last night beat the Netherlands 9-5 in Taichung at the World Baseball Classic (WBC), setting up a showdown against Cuba for a chance to advance from Pool A.
It was a tense game right from the first inning in Taichung, with Taiwanese pitcher Huang Tzu-peng (黃子鵬) showing early jitters, while miscues by the catcher led to three dropped balls, for the Netherlands to put two men in scoring position with no outs.
Taiwan yielded only one run, on a single by former New York Yankee Didi Gregorius, before Huang secured the next two outs.
Photo: RITCHIE B. TONGO, EPA-EFE
In the bottom half of the first inning, Taiwan loaded up the bases to take advantage of shaky control by Dutch starting pitcher Lars Huijer, but a flyout ended the turbulent first inning.
Taiwan bust open in their next turn at bat, getting a hit, then two walks, to fill up the bases, while designated hitter Lin Li (林立) pushed one run on an RBI-single, to level it one apiece.
Huijer made way for second pitcher Derek West, who got a high fly for the second out, but still had bases loaded.
Photo: EPA
Yu Chang (張育成) pulled the trigger on a fastball, blasting it over the centerfield wall for a grand slam homer, for the hosts to go in front 5-1 after the second inning.
In the third, Gregorius pulled one back on a grounder for fielder’s choice, leaving the Dutch trailing 5-2 at that point.
Taiwan in their bottom half again had another rally going on a double and two walks to load the bases again.
Chiang Kun-yu (江坤宇) pushed one run home on a sacrifice-fly, and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) tapped an infield single to send another man home, for Taiwan ahead at 7-2 at end of the third inning.
Taiwan padded the lead in the fourth, when Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) ripped a deep shot for a triple, and knocked in another run, for a 8-2 scoreline at that point.
Both sides put other relievers on the mound in the middle innings, as they shut down the offense, without further scoring in the fifth to eighth innings.
The Dutch picked up two more runs in the top of the eighth and Taiwan grabbed a run in the bottom.
The Netherlands grabbed one more score in the ninth, before the game was called.
In the earlier game in Taichung, Jose Ramos hit a solo homer in the first and scored on Allen Cordoba’s single in the seventh inning as Panama beat Italy 2-0 in Group A.
In Tokyo, Former Philadelphia Phillies minor-leaguer Rixon Wingrove hit a three-run double in the first inning, helping Australia cruise to a 12-2 victory over China.
Japan dominated the Czech Republic in the late game 10-2.
Additional reporting by AP and Reuters
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
STILL ON THE TABLE: The government is not precluding advanced nuclear power generation if it is proven safer and the nuclear waste issue is solved, the premier said Taiwan is willing to be in step with the world by considering new methods of nuclear energy generation and to discuss alternative approaches to provide more stable power generation and help support industries, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. The government would continue to develop diverse and green energy solutions, which include considering advances in nuclear energy generation, he added. Cho’s remarks echoed President William Lai’s (賴清德) comments in an interview last month, saying the government is not precluding “advanced and newer nuclear power generation” if it is proven to be safer and the issue of nuclear waste is resolved. Lai’s comment had
‘BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS’: The US military’s aim is to continue to make any potential Chinese invasion more difficult than it already is, US General Ronald Clark said The likelihood of China invading Taiwan without contest is “very, very small” because the Taiwan Strait is under constant surveillance by multiple countries, a US general has said. General Ronald Clark, commanding officer of US Army Pacific (USARPAC), the US Army’s largest service component command, made the remarks during a dialogue hosted on Friday by Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Asked by the event host what the Chinese military has learned from its US counterpart over the years, Clark said that the first lesson is that the skill and will of US service members are “unmatched.” The second
STANDING TOGETHER: Amid China’s increasingly aggressive activities, nations must join forces in detecting and dealing with incursions, a Taiwanese official said Two senior Philippine officials and one former official yesterday attended the Taiwan International Ocean Forum in Taipei, the first high-level visit since the Philippines in April lifted a ban on such travel to Taiwan. The Ocean Affairs Council hosted the two-day event at the National Taiwan University Hospital International Convention Center. Philippine Navy spokesman Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, Coast Guard spokesman Grand Commodore Jay Tarriela and former Philippine Presidential Communications Office assistant secretary Michel del Rosario participated in the forum. More than 100 officials, experts and entrepreneurs from 15 nations participated in the forum, which included discussions on countering China’s hybrid warfare
RSS